The next volume of Kevin Smith's current take on Batman arrives in September, along with the paperback of Batman: Cacophony. I've heard mixed reviews of these books, but obviously DC seems content to let Smith have a go at it for a while.

I had thought this was the beginning of a series collecting the Keith Giffen "five years later" Legion series, but I see now this is a collection of the Paul Levitz and Giffen run prior to the acclaimed "Great Darkness Saga." (But a collection of the "five years later" stories would be good, too). My other theory was that Giffen could shortly be joining Levitz on the new Legion of Super-Heroes series, and this could be the first collection of that.

Following their successful Joker graphic novel, Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo return with Luthor. The two already did a take on Lex Luthor, Man of Steel, with which I wasn't terribly impressed; maybe with the success of Joker, DC will give them a longer leash on this new book. Part of Joker's success, I thought, was proximity to the Dark Knight movie; I wonder if Luthor can stand on its own without an equal push.

Writer Sterling Gates congratulated DC Comics Collected Editions editor Anton Kawasaki on the Starman Omnibuses the other day, and indeed the praise is well deserved -- these books are beautiful, and these books are complete. Probably the fifth volume collects the trade paperbacks A Starry Knight and Stars My Destination, issues #47-60, before the sixth volume finishes it out.

As I speculated the other day, here's the final Nightwing and Flamebird and Mon-El volumes that, along with Superman: New Krypton Vol. 4, close out the "New Krypton" storyline. Next up, "Brainiac and The Legion of Super-Heroes," "The Fall of New Krypton," and "War of the Supermen."

I might pass on the "substitute Batman" stories for now, short of Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin, but I'm sorely tempted to get Batman: Life After Death by Tony Daniel, since he single-handedly wrote and drew Batman: Battle for the Cowl, and I'm interested to see how he follows it up. Likely Red Robin: Collision includes Batgirl issues after the first trade of that series.

I wonder if S6:DM will include the Suicide Squad #67 as well. It would be nice because if not I'd have to buy the volume collecting the other resurrected titles as well. I can't imagine it wouldn't be included.

I noticed a John Ostrander credit on the new Secret Six trade; I don't know if that's the Deadshot profile issue, or indeed the Suicide Squad issue will be cross-collected. I don't favor that myself, as I think it's a slippery slope that leads to unnecessary double-collecting (as with the Tales of the Sinestro Corps issue).

Was maybe going to get Absolute Superman For Tomorrow next holiday, but now I have to consider Absolute All-Star Superman instead. I know which one you all recommend ...

I'm pretty sure the Suicide Squad issue will be collected in the Secret Six trade. From what I've heard, it's a part of the following small arc. I'm usually a bit iffy on double collecting as well, but I don't mind it when it's an ongoing series collecting it's tie-in or highly relevant issue (see Marvel's "Dark Reign: The List" for one example, as leaving the Punisher issue out of a regular Punisher collection would be stupidly ridiculous considering what happens in it.

Going with Tony Daniels "Life and Death", but I think I'm otherwise skipping the substitute Batman stories as well when they hit softcover, at least for a good while. Morrisons Batman & Robin is the only one that seems to be really doing anything interesting or great with the concept, which is part of the reason it's best The Man is returning sooner rather than later.

I haven't seen you post the solicitation for Team-ups of the Brave and the Bold (Hardcover) by J. Michael Straczynski (Author), Jesus Saiz (Illustrator) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401227937/ref=oss_product

Thanks for the additional information. Note that these are highlights, so items not mentioned aren't "missed," per se; they just might not have had resonance for me personally. If you see ones I didn't mention that are meaningful to you, please don't hesitate to chime in and tell me what you're looking forward to.

You are quite right, of course. It would be absurd for you (not to mention nearly impossible) to provide an exhaustive tracking of all paperbacks and hardcovers coming our way, so I understand you are just focusing on those you find of special relevance.It just stroke me as odd that the SUPERMAN: SECRET ORIGIN hardcover wasn't one of them, and that's why I wondered aloud if maybe it could have skipped your radar, or maybe it was me who had missed here in some previous entry on your blog.Congratulations on your work, and thank you for sharing it with us.

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